NIT Gets What it Obviously Wanted

General NCS Basketball48

All four of the NIT’s #1 seeds got to play all three of their games at home. All four of the #1 seeds advance to New York for the NIT’s Final Four.

Is this good for the tournament?

Does this incent teams to want to play in the tournament in the future?

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General NCS Basketball

48 Responses to NIT Gets What it Obviously Wanted

  1. Astral Rain2 03/22/2007 at 7:28 AM #

    Would those teams have lost anyways?

    Honestly, the performance of State- coming as close as they did in Morgantown, means this also might be an aberration this year.

    The AF-Depaul game was pretty close as well.

  2. TNCSU 03/22/2007 at 7:42 AM #

    The Syracuse/Clemson game was close as well. Sometimes, just that little home crowd advantage works in your favor. Syracuse came from 17 back and almost won, though. With teams so equal in the NIT, that homecourt advantage is HUGE. I’m definitely glad that Clemson beat Syracuse, and Air Force beat DePaul…I would have hated seeing 3 Big East teams in the Final Four at MSG.

  3. SuperStuff 03/22/2007 at 7:46 AM #

    The higher seeds play home games so it isn’t surprising to see all the #1s make it. We had some exciting NIT games in my opinion so far. In our situation at NCSU it was a good thing. It got us to 20 wins and we saw a more confident Dennis Horner in the NIT games. What senior on any team would not want to keep playing?

  4. VaWolf82 03/22/2007 at 7:52 AM #

    The only teams that want to play in the NIT are the ones that didn’t expect to go anywhere…so who knows if this will have any effect. I’m guessing that it won’t affect future tournaments.

    One other thing that definitely influenced this year’s NIT – The inclusion of regular season champs from weak conferences that didn’t win their conference tourney. 7 of 8 of these weak sisters lost in the first round.

  5. RickJ 03/22/2007 at 7:57 AM #

    “What senior on any team would not want to keep playing?”

    Monte Towe & David Thompson.

  6. scpackman 03/22/2007 at 7:58 AM #

    I’m ok with not advancing further, we lost on a home court against a team with a Duke-esque record there….and they had to hit circus shots to beat us. The element of chance got us in that game…not so much the crowd, team, coaching, refs, etc.. It was a lucky shot that did us in.

  7. BoKnowsNCS71 03/22/2007 at 8:10 AM #

    Agree with most of you that it won’t affect the NIT. Barring expansion beyond 65 teams in the NCAAT, this is the only way that a “good” or “improving” team can get additional playing time. The NIT can’t compete with the NCAAT and does not (probably can’t) schedule Regionals and Semi locales a year in advance like the NCAAT does.

    The NIT is basically a thrown together event to give some teams a chance to play longer and make a little money for all. So using the playing schools as the game locale makes monetary sense. Favoring the favorites with a home team game comes with that.

    The NIT has been snubbed at times by schools as the “Losers Tournament”. These are sore losers like schools who feel like that they were cheated out of the big dance.

    Syracuse felt it was snubbed and probably played in the NIT to prove the NCAAT was wrong in not picking them — but failed at that last night against Clemson.

    The NIT Final 4 should be some good teams. Some will move up next year. Some will just fade away — like South Carolina.

  8. choppack1 03/22/2007 at 8:12 AM #

    The NIT is last call at a singles bar…

  9. SixPack 03/22/2007 at 8:13 AM #

    I’m glad the PACK got the extra experience and the chance to win 20 games via the NIT. It will pay dividends next year for NCSU !

    That said: I have long believed that the NIT lost its relavence years ago when it lost its status as a competing tourney format versus NCAAT (in favor of a “losers tourney for those not selected for the Big Dance” !).

    It will always be a second rate event and for the life of me (NCAA involvement or not) I strongly feel it should be a pre-season or holiday tourney…not a season ending ugly sister to NCAAT !

  10. Dan 03/22/2007 at 8:16 AM #

    Is this an argument that someone else should have been the #1 seeds? We had the lowest RPI of any at-large team. I’m not saying we deserved a 6, but its a long argument to us as a 1.

    As far as getting what they want, only two of the 2 seeds (FSU and ‘Cuse) held their place.

    I’m not sure I get the point of this. Home games have been a part of the NIT for a long time.

  11. Rochester 03/22/2007 at 8:25 AM #

    The home games in the postseason fall into the “life ain’t fair” category, but there’s really no other way to do this. Reverse the home and road teams in the last round and you’d probably have a different set of four teams going to NYC. I don’t think WVa beats us in Raleigh, and Syracuse is a tough out on their home court, so maybe they beat Clemson. Who knows for sure, but the home court advantage can be huge.

  12. BoKnowsNCS71 03/22/2007 at 8:28 AM #

    Choppack — True — the teams all get prettier at closing time.

  13. Dan 03/22/2007 at 8:34 AM #

    ^ Not to mention how beautiful the NIT looks through the beer goggles.

  14. redfred2 03/22/2007 at 8:38 AM #

    “The NIT is last call at a singles bar…”

    If that’s the case, everybody deserves a second glance.

  15. gumbydammit 03/22/2007 at 8:53 AM #

    Teams want to play in the NIT just to keep playing. I don’t think anyone is really playing to win an NIT banner. Winning means living to play again.

  16. Trout 03/22/2007 at 9:05 AM #

    We finished the regular season at 15-14. All teams play at least ONE ACC Tourney game, meaning we were guaranteed 30 games. We ended up 20-16, for a total of 36 games. We extended our season by 20%, which considering the youth of the team, is probably the best thing to come out of the NIT.

    Plus, all those 6 games were “one and done” tournament type atmospheres. That experience is key as well.

    Assuming a 30 game regular season next year, I think a 20-10 regular season mark is realistic. Below 18 regular season wins would be disappointing, above 22 regular season wins would be overachieving. IMO.

  17. richdail 03/22/2007 at 9:07 AM #

    I’m not sure what you are driving at either SFN . . .

  18. Six Pack 03/22/2007 at 9:11 AM #

    Who is this other SixPack? I do not necessary condone or agree with anything he/she might say.

  19. El Scrotcho 03/22/2007 at 9:19 AM #

    Seems fair to me. Put together a nice regular season resume and be rewarded with top seeds and home court advantage. I can’t think of any change that would make the NIT better than what it is.

    Looking at the results so far in the NCAAT and NIT, you have to tip your hat to the selection committees on their seedings. They did a helluva job.

  20. LRM 03/22/2007 at 9:44 AM #

    I can’t believe we’re discussing the NIT like this…it’s gonna be a long summer.

  21. Mr O 03/22/2007 at 10:02 AM #

    NIT seeding will be more controversial in the future because the higher seeds play at home. I don’t know if it makes any sense or not, but just like a conference tournament it would be pretty exciting if all quarterfinals were played at Madison Square Garden. It would be like the ACC Tournament of the old days.

    Not sure if it is possible, but it would at least take away some of the potential controversy over bogus #1 seeds winning only because they are at home.

  22. BoKnowsNCS71 03/22/2007 at 10:04 AM #

    /\ NIT is a lot better conversation than — “How bout them Eels?” 😉

  23. Rochester 03/22/2007 at 10:07 AM #

    Take Syracuse and Clemson, for example. The loudest outcry I heard on Selection Sunday was Syracuse getting left out. No one really cried for Clemson because they were still imploding at that point. So if Syracuse is regarded as last team out, etc., how are they seeded lower than Clemson? It seems pretty arbitrary. Then again, it also seems kind of unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

  24. BoKnowsNCS71 03/22/2007 at 10:17 AM #

    Not to be NITpicking but this page shows what criteria is used by the NIT.

    http://www.nit.org/about-nit/selection-procedures.html

  25. choppack1 03/22/2007 at 10:18 AM #

    Rochester – That’s a good question – what made Syracuse a 2 and Clemson a 1? Did Los Tigres have a higher RPI? It certainly wasn’t financial – the Cuse had 26K at their game the other night.

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